This year I, a humble liberal arts major, moved into an apartment with my friend who happened to be beginning her first year of nursing school. While my schoolwork this year has generally been more of the same, she’s been dealing with a dramatic increase in stress level that I don’t really understand but do empathize with. Her constant stress and crazy study schedule has lead to quite an interesting year so far. Here’s what I’ve learned after a semester of living with a nursing student.
Nursing Students Have a Language of their Own
She’s always talking about diseases, injuries and classes that I’ve never heard of. She’ll use nursing terms in everyday conversation and have to be reminded that most people don’t know what she’s talking about. I don’t know what pathophysiology is but it certainly seems awful.
They Have Really Messed Up Sleep Schedules
Nursing school has made my roommate essentially nocturnal. She’s constantly up at odd hours of the night either working on assignments or studying. Then, she spends her afternoons and breaks between classes napping to make up for it. Since starting nursing classes, she hasn’t had what anybody would consider a normal sleeping schedule.
Brace Yourself for Emotional Breakdowns
I think all college students have the occasional emotional breakdown or freak-out at some point. However, since starting nursing school she’s had an above average number of breakdowns to put it lightly. When the stress starts to get to her, you know one is probably coming.
A Lot of Her Time is Spent Complaining
Whenever she’s not doing work for nursing school she’s probably complaining about how much work she has to do for nursing school. I don’t really blame her, though.
Virtual Patients are Awful
At the University of Florida, apparently, you take care of a virtual patient during your first semester of nursing school. I discovered this when I heard my roommate yelling at her fake patient, named Tina, at 2 a.m. one night. It was very confusing at first.
They’ll Want to Practice on You
Often times, my roommate asks to practice what she learns in practice on me. I’ve let her use me to practice taking blood pressure too many times to count.
Brace Yourself for Clinicals
I have to be honest and say I don’t exactly know what clincals are, other than it means that nursing students get to interact with real patients. They usually start incredibly early in the morning and my roommate sleeps the rest of the day when they’re over. However, she usually has some pretty entertaining stories about her day when she wakes up.
Exam Time is the Worst Time
You can always tell when a nursing exam is coming up. About a week before an exam, my roommate becomes a shut-in, only leaving the apartment for food or class. Emotional breakdowns and panicking are expected to increase during this time, as well as complaining about how much she hates nursing school. Then, once the exam is over she’ll want to celebrate her freedom for about a week or so, but then she’ll start stressing about her next exam quickly after this and the cycle continues.
